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My own garden suffers some neglect as I head into the business trip season. Home again and gone again, a challenge to keep plants hydrated . So I'll look back once more to the July visit to the PNW and share some photos from Dancing Oaks, a destination nursery in Monmouth Oregon. Surrounded by bucolic farmlands, and sited on a sunny exposure against the hills, Dancing Oaks features lovely display gardens and a palette of interesting and well grown plants. And make sure you stop for lunch at the Pink House Cafe in Independence..recommended !

Kick off for the annual garden-tourista trip took place at the Oregon Garden Resort..can there be anything better than a hotel that is adjacent to a botanical garden ? I think not. And to sweeten the pot, your room rate includes unlimited entry to the garden, sunup to sundown. Photographers rejoice- the golden hour is yours !

This was a stumble-upon garden for me, visited on a whim after several years of visiting the Portland area unaware of it's existence. Well maintained with almost something for everyone -if you are a succulent die-hard this may not be the place for you. And why should it be ? This is Oregon-conifers , hardwoods and herbaceous perennials are suitable here and presented to their advantage in the garden.

There was a railroad garden !

Conifers.. and we are told the collection is due to be doubled.

And incidentally, the room rates at the resort are beyond reasonable, especially if you can go midweek.

The first chapter of George Little and David Lewis's iconic book "A Garden Gallery" is titled 'Gardening from Within' -such a simple phrase but infused with the truth of what gardening truly is for many of us. Visceral , and from the gut, bathed in emotion. Joy, frustration, serenity , anger, fatigue-it's all there. My friends and I entered the gate of the Little and Lewis garden on Bainbridge Island and stepped into an intimate world of plants, art and water created by these 2 artists , drenched in atmospere , the canvas for their art. The artists eye and intuition is a wonderful gift when making a garden.

The water features they have created are here are quite lovely, and they were kind enough to explain the how-to of a few of them, including their wintering over strategies. This serene moss-infused number started it's life as a humble galvanized stock tank.